"Catalina Marketing has spent the past 25 years transferring our understanding of how purchase decisions can be used to motivate, enforce or drive new buying decisions," Catalina chairman and chief executive officer Dick Buell said in a statement. "Delivering relevant communications to the right audience, and measuring the performance of marketing spends, is at the core of all our business initiatives. We are excited about extending this level of shopper understanding and shopper value to the digital space for our consumer packaged goods [CPG], food, drug and mass partners."

The company noted that E-centives — with 14 years of experience working with CPG companies on digital couponing, customer relationship marketing database management, e-mail marketing and web site development — brings three key elements to the table: established technology platforms, proven and innovative industry professionals, and a valuable portfolio of intellectual property and patents.

"This strategic investment is reflective of Catalina Marketing's commitment to advancing long-term, viable digital innovations for our industry partners, as well as our commitment to shoppers who seek customized value delivered through their preferred channel of communication," Buell explained. "We believe this acquisition will accelerate efforts to link various forms of online advertising, mobile communications and video couponing to support our brand partners' overall objectives."

Catalina added that the acquisition announcement follows the recent appointment of former Google Affiliate Network executive Chris Henger to lead its digital business.